It's Best Not to Dwell on the Past
by Warriorcat890
Summary: When Four sees Beatrice for the first time, the Abnegation girl evokes memories of his former life and his relationship with his abusive father... A one-shot.


_This is a one-shot fanfiction based off the book "Divergent" by Veronica Roth. The characters belong to her, but I created the situations._

_I have not read the Four ebook, so I don't know what he was actually feeling when he first met Tris, but this is my interpretation of it._

_I do not own the characters, the settings, or the factions. They all belong to Veronica Roth._

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**It Is Best Not to Dwell on the Past**

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I stood in the Dauntless headquarters near the net, waiting for the first jumper. Just earlier today a new unfortunate group of sixteen-year-olds chose Dauntless to be their faction. A part of me hoped to see whether or not any Abnegation had decided to join me here in this world of darkness and bravery, but another part dreaded to see the first stiff that jumped. I could only imagine how those new recruits must feel standing on top of that building waiting to see which brave soul decides to go first. The transfers are always told to go first.

Even though I didn't want to be reminded of my Abnegation life, I wanted to see if any others had decided to join the Dauntless. My path was never clear on whether I should have stayed in Abnegation, where I was born, or transfer to Dauntless where I would become a protector of the citizens… I was Divergent. The aptitude test did not register for either one, but rather for both. It wasn't as if this was a common problem; hell, when I was a sixteen-year-old boy I hadn't even heard of Divergence. The man who gave me my test told me that being Divergent was a very dangerous thing and that it was best that I told no one.

So, I was left with two choices—Dauntless or Abnegation. Dauntless was my dream faction—I wanted to become a hero and protect the people of our country. The idea of defending the innocent was intriguing to me. Only, it wasn't that easy. I was born into Abnegation. My father was a council leader! What would people think of him if his only son abandoned his birth faction to live among the Dauntless? Even with all the abuse that I endured from my father, the Abnegation in me still forced me to consider how he would feel if I left him. In the end, I couldn't stay there with him. I could not remain in that house just so he could beat me for even the tiniest mistake. I had to get out, and Dauntless was the only place I could go.

A scream interrupted my thoughts and soon, a body came into view. In a flash, the body hit the net and bounced a couple times. Even under the moonlight that made everything appear silver, I recognized the normal Abnegation attire. So one had decided to transfer, and not just that, but she was the first jumper. A stiff is never the first jumper. Even I wasn't the first jumper when I had transferred.

Just seeing the tell-tale clothes made me freeze. It was as if a floodgate of undesired memories suddenly burst. All of these horrible thoughts came rushing back to me… thoughts of my father and my home.

I was young… oh probably seven or eight when my mother died. No one held large funerals in Abnegation. We considered death a solemn, quiet affair that did not require a large, wasteful, gathering. We were a selfless people and we did not enjoy wasting money on selfish things when we could be helping those in need. My mother would have wanted it this way—just my father and I burying her. My mother had always been sickly, but she refused medical attention. The Erudite, of course, probably could have cured her of her illness, but my mother refused. She said that there was always someone else out there worse off than you.

After my mother died, things changed—my father was no longer the selfless, caring man I knew him to be. To everyone, he was Marcus the selfless Abnegation leader that always put others first before his own will. He would gladly jump in front of a train to save a man he didn't even know, but behind closed doors, that peaceful, caring façade disappeared. He became my father, which doesn't sound so bad at first, but he was a strict father. One mistake and I would get belted.

"This is for your own good," he would say, but it made no sense to me. I was not a bad kid; I did my homework every night, I was home at reasonable hours, I always helped around the house, and I never mouthed back to my father. I was your average, selfless Abnegation boy. However, that was never enough for my father.

Everything I did he found fault in. If I came home with an A- on a test, he would send me to my room without dinner. If I didn't hold the door for a random man I'd never met, he would smack me in the back of the head and tell me to open my eyes. If I spoke without being spoken to, I would get beaten.

The first time it happened would haunt me for the rest of my life…

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_"Really, dad!" I pleaded, stumbling backwards into my room. I was being selfish by avoiding my punishment and walking away from him. I was making it difficult for him and being disrespectful, but fear had a death grip on my heart._

_"A B?!" he demanded, throwing my math test on the floor of my bedroom. "You come home with a B and expect me to go easy on you?!"_

_I continued to walk backward until I bumped into the wall. "Dad, please…" I said, trying to think of something to say to get me out of it. I was eleven, if that, and didn't want him to hit me again. "I'm not an Erudite!"_

_Bringing up the one faction that my father hated—the one faction he loathed and despised for their selfish ways—only made things worse. His face turned red in a matter of moments as he stalked over to me and grabbed me roughly by my upper arm. "You are a pathetic excuse for a son, Tobias!" he snarled like he a tiger. "Boys like you need to be beaten until they learn! Can you even learn, Tobias?! You have an awfully big head and a brain the size of a piece of gravel!"_

_"Please, father…" I murmured, my last attempt to make amends._

_It did not work._

_He made me kneel, facing the bed and pulled my pants and underwear around my knees. Embarrassment showed itself by the blush on my face. "Father…" _

_"Silence!" he barked, pulling his belt off from around his waist. "I will teach you discipline and respect if it is the last thing I do!" Without warning, he whipped my backside with his belt made me gasp in pain._

_"What would mother do if she saw you doing this?!" I blurted out, gripping the sheet on my bed with pain as another lash came._

_He did not respond, but only beat me harder. He beat me, and degraded me with every lash. He knew what my mother would think—she would scold him profusely and make him apologize to me for this… but my mother wasn't here anymore. I was sure she was turning in her grave though._

_The Abnegation inside me told me that my father was just stressed out from work and that this was his way of releasing it. The Abnegation encouraged me to let him beat me and maybe it would make him feel better, after all, we always put the needs of others before our own… but that selfish part of me screamed to tackle him to the ground and make him stop._

_When welts began to form on my back, he finally stopped and left the room without a word, closing the door behind him. Once he was gone, I broke down into careless tears. I didn't care if anyone saw me now… All pride and all honor I had had been taken from me by a man twice my age._

_From that moment on, I kept my head down, never spoke, and became a shell of my former self. I morphed into a shadow that resided in the background of everyday life. When I got home from school, my father would be at work, but I would still retreat to my room and hide. He still insisted that I joined him for dinner, but we never spoke. Every now and then when he would have a bad day, he would beat me again and tell me that it was for my own good. I forget when, but at one point, I swore that I would never, ever treat my child like this if I had one._

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This Abnegation girl… this first jumper had evoked these horrible memories in me, however the innocence on her face as she climbed off the net made something stir inside me. I knew that I would protect her. I could not let her fail.

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**A/N: Okay, so this one wasn't very good, I know, but I wanted to write something about Four and Marcus. I hope you like!**

**If you liked this story, please leave a review below telling me so, and if you've liked what you read here, click on my username to see more! :D**


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